Art Nouveau

Buvette Cachat - Evian, France

           Art Nouveau explored the philosophy that embellishment of certain components effectively link ornament and object, animating it with new life. Objects began to be thought of as a comprehensive organic system, rather than separate, individual parts. On the same hand, ornament became a fabric that coincided with the form of the structure, rather than a thoughtless space filler.  Van der Velde believed in "recognizing the meaning and justification of ornament in its function." This idea became the underlying idea in the Art Nouveau movement; that ornament seemed to determine the form. Van de Velde established the ideologue of the movement in 1894 in a series of lectures defining art as the expression of joy in work. The necessity of machine production became key in his thinking. This connection between artistic expression and the mechanical, working properties of an object is an idea used even today in many architectural designs. Just as the Romans with the arch, modern architecture began to understand and celebrate the raw functional characteristics in modern structural systems (joists, columns, steel).

Vitebskij Railway Terminal - St. Petersburg

          Similarly, Van der Velde was seeking the artistic expression within these simple functional components, and embellishing them. The rapid industrialization happening in Van der Velde's time helped bring architectural expression in terms of machine production, an idea which would become the focus of many modern designers. Previous designers had the intimacy to embellish individual elements; hand crafted details, ornamented stone carvings, embellished metal doodads. However, the rise of industry also gave rise to productivity, and the fabrication of similar elements in a short span of time. Van der Velde recognized this efficient advancement and discovered the artistic expression behind an otherwise mundane mechanical system.

Casa Pratsjusà - Barcelona, Spain

          The Art Nouveau movement also translated in more holistic architectural construct, such as plans. Victor Horta is most noted as exploring the Art Nouveau idea in his plans of hotels and various dwellings. His designs focused heavily on the fluidity of movement and function throughout the structure. The staircase served as the center point of each design, with a piano nobile and various conservatories branching off from it. Horta, like Van der Velde, saw the ultimate goal as "dissolving structure into ornament." However, Horta became more focused on the architectural, rather than the artistic, implications of Art Nouveau. He took Van der Velde's new decorative principles and developed them into a coherent architectural style.

Stair view and Floor Plan of Hôtel Van Eetvelde - Brussels, Belgium

          The use of artistic symmetry linked with the asymmetrical programmatic elements are evident in his floor plan designs such as his Hôtel Van Eetvelde. His explorations began to discover the relationship programmatic needs and [floor plan] design had with one another. Symmetry began to be dismantled by the new needs of society in the modern era, evident in his hotel designs. This became a key issue in modernist design: developing a form that alleviates the overall function. 

          Hector Guimard took a similar route as Horta. By taking the principles outlined by Van der Velde, he developed a architectural language. His work was more heavily influenced by Viollet-le-Duc than Horta, but nevertheless contributed to Art Nouveau movement in a similar way. His embellishment of organic plant forms in metal became a signature effect in his constructs. Although he is believed to have followed Horta in attempting to take this artistic form and bring it into the realm of architectural design, I believe that many of his designs are based in art, rather than architecture. During his final design for the Castel Béranger in Paris, Guimard visited Horta's dwellings in Brussels. After seeing them, Guimard was quick to rework the stone and metal detailing in the Castel Béranger. Does this not make one think that his designs were less architectural and more afterthought embellishments of individual ornaments?

Hôtel Paul Mezzara - Paris, France

 

          Although Guimard took great consideration in the overall structure of his designs, I believe he cannot be entirely compared with Horta. The organic forms for which he is notorious seem to be less of an architectural language and more of an artistic expression similar to Van der Velde's interior embellishments. Whatever the case, Guimard began to, like Horta, seek a link between the art and architecture of the Art Nouveau movement. His ideas would questions the realm of previous architectural forms such as symmetry, scale, and proportion. His designs contained an element which Horta lacked: the freedom of asymmetry. In this way, Guidmard gave modern architecture the freedom to express in a non-uniform, yet controlled form.

Hotel Guimard - Paris, France